Instant Marketing Campaigns
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      Best Practices for Creating a Campaign

      Crafting impactful campaigns is a great way to engage with your customers. Whether you’re promoting a new product, sending reminders, or running a seasonal special, following best practices ensures your campaigns perform well and get a higher response rate. This guide will walk you through our best practices, tips and tricks to maximize your campaign's reach, relevance, and results.


      The golden rule to creating a successful campaign is to text the right people the right thing at the right time. For example, texting customers with a specific vehicle model about a recall when you know you have available appointments and sufficient parts to address their needs promptly.


      Message Content


      A well-structured message is the foundation of a successful campaign. It ensures your communication is clear, concise, and compelling, making it easier to connect with your customers effectively. 

      • Always include your business name. Identifying your business is the cornerstone of any campaign. Especially since some customers may not recognize the phone number you are texting from.

      • Keep it short. A concise campaign message is more effective, as customers tend to lose interest when reading long, drawn-out messages. By keeping your campaigns concise, you create focused and impactful communications that resonate with your audience. We recommend that messages be around 5 segments in length.

      Tip

      If you have a lot of information to share, instead of writing a long message, try attaching a document or flyer to the text message and include a brief accompanying message.


      • Do not use Caps Lock. Messages that are entirely in uppercase letters can appear aggressive or unprofessional, and may even cause your message to be flagged as spam with some mobile carriers.

      • Ensure proper grammar. Having good grammar and no spelling mistakes ensures that your message appears professional and easy to read.

      Tip

      You can use the AI Spellcheck and AI Improve Text tools to help you craft a more professional and grammatically correct message. Click here for more information on these AI tools.

       

      • Emojis. Limited use of emojis in a campaign can really make your message stand out ⭐. 
        We recommend using one or two emojis in your message. Any more than that will use a lot of segments and can trigger spam filters with some mobile carriers 🙁. 

      • Include a call-to-action. It is always best to include a statement at the end of your campaign message to incite your customers to engage with your business. Here are a few examples: 
        “Text BOOK to reserve your appointment now!”
        “For more information on this offer, text PROMO or give us a call at 123-456-7890 ”
        “Reply 'YES' to claim this offer before it’s gone! ”

      • Test your message. When you believe your message is ready, enter your phone number under “Send test message to…” and click on “Test now” to send yourself a test message. This will allow you to view the message from your customer’s perspective.

      test-now

      Attachments and Links


      We encourage you to attach documents, images or links to your campaigns to really make them pop! Here are a few tips for using attachments in campaigns:

      • Any file or (image, document, etc) that is over 3 Mb in size will automatically be converted into a short link. They are secure links that will direct the customer to a page containing the image. Here is an example of a what a short link looks like:
        https://kimo.by/N3b9S

      • Links that you enter into the campaign message box will also be converted into short links when the message is sent. This is to prevent long URL strings from being flagged as spam.

      • Due to limitations with SMS text messages, using a hyperlink in your campaign message is not possible.

      • Little-known fact! You can also use GIFs in your campaign! For example, if your marketing department creates an attractive GIF of a new vehicle, you can attach it to your message. Note that if it is over 3 Mb, it will also be converted into a short link.


      Sending Times


      “What is the best time to send my campaign?” is a question often asked by many users! It is important to choose a time that suits both your business and your customers, in order to maximize response rates. Here are some of our best practices when finding the right time to send a campaign:

      • Send your campaign within normal business hours. We’ve found that between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM is optimal, as it gets a higher response rate from customers, while also giving your team time during the day to manage the responses.

      • Choose a day when your company will be open both that day and the following day. If a customer replies to a campaign, even a day later, only to receive an out-of-office message, it might be discouraging. Ideally, you want to be able to actively communicate with customers shortly after receiving a response from them.

      • Avoid after-hours and weekends. Campaigns sent after 3:00 PM and on weekends or holidays tend to get lower response rates. During these times, people tend to pay less attention to their phones to spend time with family.